


smile like you mean it

by alcego



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, I mean it, Keith is a Deep Sleeper, M/M, Shiro Gets a Break, Shiro's birthday, Sleepy Intimacy, pure fluff, really - Freeform, shiro is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28639536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcego/pseuds/alcego
Summary: “Okay, uh, stand right here. For just a minute,” Keith said, trying to step into the kitchen without taking his eye off of Shiro. “Yeah, just like that.”Keith was a terrible liar, and even worse at keeping secrets. But he was genuine, and Shiro couldn’t help but smile at his awkward shuffle into the kitchen, although the soft clatter of — was that kitchenware? — was slightly concerning. Shiro waited a moment, stifling his concern so as not to ruin whatever Keith had arranged.“Yeah, okay. You can come in now,” Keith called from the kitchen, and Shiro obliged.---Fic forEmon the blue tumble site. Thank you so much!!
Relationships: Keith/shiro
Kudos: 3





	smile like you mean it

**Author's Note:**

> > `NOTE: This fic was originally posted to my account in 2018, but during a moment of, shall we say, incredible hatred for my older works, I orphaned the vast majority of my works on AO3 a few years ago. I regret that decision now, and have backdated and uploaded the identical works here to make up for it. You can still find the original fics under an orphaned penname, but I wanted to have them back on my account, so we are.`

Everyone knew Shiro spent his mornings in the training room stretching and working out. It was his thing. Of course, “morning” was a relative term. For him, it meant any time he woke up after midnight had passed. Today it meant five in the morning — as the watch that Pidge had macgyvered up for him said pointedly. Aside from Lance (who was a light sleeper) and Pidge (who sometimes forgot to sleep for days on end), no one was usually awake that early.

That and absolutely nothing else was the reason behind Shiro’s heart stopping for a second when the training room door hissed open to Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Allura stretching and yawning. Lance and Hunk seemed no worse for wear than usual, but Pidge and Allura had a bleary look in their eyes that said they wouldn’t be entirely awake until they’d had a hearty nap.

“What are you doing up?” Shiro asked, trying to keep some of the surprise from his voice and not quite succeeding. “Not that I’m not glad to see everyone training but…”

“Can’t a guy wake up early for some self-care?” Lance asked lightly, smirking playfully.

“We’re taking the day off and celebrating your birthday,” Pidge announced, shooting Lance a Look.

“What about the Galra?” Shiro asked, glancing pointedly at the extra armor hanging towards the back of the weapon-supply room.

“Purple has been banned,” Allura said, grinning. “No Galra today _or_ tomorrow.”

Shiro stared at her for a second, processing. This was — this was wild. Had they really gone to all of this trouble for him? “Shouldn’t you be stoic or something?” he asked, retreating from those anxious thoughts. Wouldn’t do to throw that on his friends, not at all.

Lance snorted. “Are you kidding? No Galra _guaranteed_ for almost three days? That’s a flippin’ dream!”

“We gotta do this for everyone’s birthday,” Hunk agreed, grinning as he deepened his butterfly stretch.

“But man, if we’re not gonna be fighting Galra, why do we still have to train?” Lance complained as he stretched his arm over his head.

Shiro glared at him, but Allura beat him to the punch. “We are training so that we don’t lose any fighting strength in the time that we are gone. That—”

“Well it wouldn’t hurt to take a break,” Coran said over the intercom, from the observation room. Allura turned to stare at the glass. “After all, the human body needs time to rest to maintain full effectiveness. So!” Shiro could _feel_ Coran tug on his mustache through the comm. “After you’ve finished your stretches, consider yourselves free to relax! Especially the birthday boy!”

Lance had tugged Hunk most of the way out of the training room almost before Coran had finished speaking, and a hooting Pidge followed close at their heels. She turned at the door and flashed a grin Shiro’s way. “Just because we’ve got a day off doesn’t mean we’re ignoring your birthday,” she said, winking, and disappeared with Lance and Hunk.

That left Shiro there with Allura, whose frown had disappeared under a diplomatic mask. She sighed and cracked her neck before fixing her sights on Shiro. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Keith is?”

“Sleeping,” Shiro said, glad for an easy answer. Keith wouldn’t be up until seven if he had any say in the matter.

Allura nodded. “Before you begin your birthday relaxation, would you mind telling him that I got everything ready? He’ll know what it means.” She smiled and wiggled her fingers at him in a graceful farewell, slipping through the door and turning down the hall leading to the observation room before Shiro had a chance to ask questions.

Shiro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Why was everyone acting so weird today? It was just a birthday…

———

Finding Keith was easy: all Shiro had to do was find his room and peek in the door. It opened to Shiro’s touch; there were no locks on the castle-ship, which could be bothersome at times, but was, for the most part, not a big deal. It meant they could find each other quickly, and that their private lives relied heavily on trust.

Luckily, that was something they had a lot of. It wasn’t as if they were forming a giant robot to fight evil tyrants on a regular basis or anything.

Bad jokes aside, he was no stranger to Keith’s room. Draw whatever you want from that, but the fact remains. Shiro knocked on the wall, smiling at the curtain Keith had put in front of the door after one too many doors were hastily opened.

A low grunt beckoned him in, and Shiro smiled. Anything less than a Galra attack wouldn’t be enough to wake Keith at five in the morning.

“Keith,” Shiro whispered, getting a muffled groan in return. Snickering like a child, Shiro tickled his cheek with his lips and repeated it, against his skin.

Another grunt, only now it was far more interested in the world of the living. After a minute or three of bereaved groaning, Keith managed a semi-coherent, “Wha?”

“Allura said to tell you she got everything ready,” he said, in the same way as before. What was once intimate was now ridiculous, and he didn’t care. At all.

Keith blinked and shot out of bed, neatly pushing past Shiro and grabbing his jacket from the wall. “C’mon then,” he said, not meeting Shiro’s eye and trying to hide a smile behind the neck of his jacket.

Curious, Shiro followed him through the castle-ship until the doorway of the kitchen became unmistakable. Breakfast? It was a little early for that…

“Okay, uh, stand right here. For just a minute,” Keith said, trying to step into the kitchen without taking his eye off of Shiro. “Yeah, just like that.”

Keith was a terrible liar, and even worse at keeping secrets. But he was genuine, and Shiro couldn’t help but smile at his awkward shuffle into the kitchen, although the soft clatter of — was that kitchenware? — was slightly concerning. Shiro waited a moment, stifling his concern so as not to ruin whatever Keith had arranged.

“Yeah, okay. You can come in now,” Keith called from the kitchen, and Shiro obliged.

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to find, but it wasn’t his friends standing by the counter crowing, “Happy birthday!” with the tired enthusiasm that only the genuinely sleep deprived knew.

A holograph proclaiming “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” in light blue letters hung over their heads, and a tray of equally blue cookies sat on the counter, just next to where Pidge sat holding a messily wrapped device.

“I made cookies — scalutrite free this time — and Pidge whipped up an uh,” Hunk hesitated and glanced at Pidge. “What was it again?”

“Laptop,” she said, then frowned. “Kind of. Mostly. Just, check it out, you’ll see.”

Shiro smiled and accepted the package as she thrust it at him. He’d have to take a look at it later. “What is all this?” he asked.

“We figured this was the least we could do since you’re, y’know, always keeping an eye on our backs out there,” Lance said, proud as the day he’d found Blue. He held his hands out, gesturing to the party at large. “The party was Keith’s idea, but I did most of the planning and—”

“Thank you, Lance,” Shiro said, cutting him off before he could start rambling. He was a good guy, but he could talk for _hours_.

Allura intercepted before Lance could start building up momentum again. “Coran and I have organized a retreat, of sorts, to a planet similar to your Earth. The Blade and Coalition send you their regards, and insist that we take all necessary steps to ensure you get the rest you deserve.” There was a solidness to her that made even a statement like that feel like an order-

But with Keith sliding down the counter to lean on his shoulder, it became a request. A reminder that even if he was responsible for keeping these people — his friends — safe, he needed his rest. And that his friends and allies were trustworthy, that they could take care of themselves, and maybe him if he let them.

“Thank you,” he said, and meant it.

“You can thank me after seven,” Keith grumbled, tugging on Shiro’s arm. “After we’ve woken up from some proper snuggling.”

Lance’s snicker was cut off by a quick poke from Pidge, but Keith was a force of his own, and already had them halfway down the hallway. Shiro was glad that they missed the strength of his blush, but he wouldn’t pass up Keith’s offer. Not for anything.

Maybe he’d be able to put his worry aside for a while and enjoy this. It was his birthday, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentines day you sappy suckers, hope you have a good one! come dork out with me at tumbles dot com


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